Reid warns Nevada cattle rancher who faced down feds: ‘It’s not over’

Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid had an ominous message Monday for Clive Bundy, the Nevada rancher who successfully faced down federal agents attempting to seize his herd for illegal grazing: “It’s not over.”

The Senate majority leader spoke briefly to Reno-based KRNV about last week’s standoff, which eventually saw Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other federal law enforcement officers retreat in the face of large public protests and an armed militia presence.

“Well, it’s not over,” he said. “We can’t have, in America, people that violate the law and just walk away from it. So it’s not over.”

The BLM accuses the Bundy’s of illegally grazing on federal land and damaging a protected habitat for a desert tortoise. The Bundys claim the land has been in their family for generations and that the federal government has no claim to to the land.

While many Nevada politicians have expressed their support for Bundy, Reid has been largely silent about the controversy since federal agents unexpectedly surrounded the Bundy’s ranch last week.

That’s perhaps due to Reid’s reported lobbying of the BLM to change the desert tortoise’s mapped habitat, allowing Nevada real estate mogul Harvey Whittemore to build on land near the Bundy’s ranch.

Last year Whittemore was convicted of making illegal campaign contributions to Reid, and the Majority Leader’s former senior advisor was confirmed as the new head of BLM just last week.

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